Grateful
by Shadico
Summary: A comforting one-shot based on a prompted word: Grateful. Raven focused. BBRae.


I do not own the Teen Titans.

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The world was nothing but smoke and screams. As far as the eye could see, fires raged and people ran in all directions. The peoples attempts at escape were pointless. The sky was obstructed by countless fire demons, hungrily swarming their prey in a sadistic glee. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

At the center of all this chaos and destruction was a dark, menacing figure. All light near it seemed to be absorbed and extinguished. Blood from countless victims pooled around the figure, as four combatants moved to engage the creature.

Green bolts of radiation ripped through the air, pummeling the target. Explosions sounded off a moment later as birdarangs landed with pinpoint accuracy. Finally, a blue beam of energy made contact, enveloping the target for a moment in a brilliant light.

The concentrated firepower of the assailants didn't phase the creature physically at all. It did, however, make it angry. With an otherworldly scream, the creature sent forth its power as four red eyes beamed through the darkness. Three razor sharp spikes dripping in dark energies shot forth at impossible speeds, brutally impaling the three that just dared to challenge the creature.

They had no chance. As one, the three titans slumped to the ground with a lifeless thump. The heroes were no more. A small movement off to the side caught the creatures attention. The green one was in shock. Eyes wide and mouth agape, he stared at his fallen teammates in disbelief. They were gone.

With tears flowing freely and unfathomable rage in his heart, the green one charged. Too distraught and shaken to even change shape, the green one reeled back a fist as he approached the creature, hoping to do some kind of damage. He would never get that chance. An arm shot out of the darkness with four red eyes, capturing and squeezing the changeling by his throat and lifting him into the air.

Both of the changelings hands shot to his throat as he struggled to escape. After realizing how futile it was, he spoke.

"Why?! Why would you do this?! We trusted you! I trusted you! How could you?!" The reply from the creature came in the form of of another dark spike, taking shape a hairs width from the changelings chest. "You're a monster, Raven! You're as evil as your father! I wish we had never met you! You've killed everyone Raven! Look at yourself, damnit! How could you?!"

After a moment of pause the creature, Raven, glanced down. The shroud of darkness peeled away as she gazed into her reflection. Her four red eyes, her demonic features…truly, she was a demon. The daughter of Trigon the Terrible. There was no changing this. She was born for this. To be the end of all things mortal. She was The Gem. With a heart wrenching scream of anguish, Raven plunged the spike into Beast Boy, ending his life. She continued screaming and screaming. The darkness surrounding her enveloped her head once again. She felt lost, tumbling chaotically in a thick and hazy endless void.

After what seemed to be an eternity, she felt a strong pressure on her shoulders, constricting her. Slowing her. She could hear a sound in the distance. Indiscernible at first, it grew and grew until she could finally begin to comprehend it.

"…Raven…Raven…wake up! …Raven!"

All of the sudden, the shroud of endless darkness was rushing past her. Raven felt like she was being forcefully ripped out of the deep depths of an ocean. A pinprick of light appeared in the distance. In an instant that pinprick of light exploded and filled her vision completely. She broke through the surface of the ocean.

Launching upright, Raven's eyes shot open. She was hyperventilating and could feel the chill of the air brush against her tear stricken face. As the world around her started to come into focus, she became aware of the presence with her. Beast Boy had his arms wrapped around her, one hand holding the back of her head, the other rubbing soothing circles on her back. Raven's own hands, she eventually became aware of, were gripping onto the changeling's bare torso with such force that she was positive he was bleeding.

The two continued to embrace each other as time slowly passed. Every few minutes, Raven's grip on the changeling would relax a bit more. The tension in her body would lessen slightly. Her breathing would slowly normalize. The tears would soon stop. Eventually, with a long and deep breath, Raven dispelled the last of the effects of her nightmare. Focusing a small bit of her powers into her hands, Raven poured forth a bit of her healing powers into the changeling, removing any evidence of the ten small bleeding punctures on his back.

Pulling away slightly, the weary empath rubbed at her cheeks in an attempt to clear the tear stains away. She then felt a pair of lips press against her chakra stone gently. When the lips pulled back, she glanced up into a pair of emerald eyes that conveyed nothing but love and warmth. Beast Boy, as usual, was the first to break the silent moment of comfort. "Hi."

Raven felt a small smile force its way onto her face as she replied. "Hi."

"How do you feel?" The changeling inquired.

"Exhausted." The empath replied, voice not quite devoid of emotion.

"Do you wanna lay back down? We could sleep in."

"No. Not after that nightmare."

"Same one as yesterday?"

With a sigh, the empath nodded. "You lay down. I'm going to go take a shower. I'll wake you up when I'm done."

The still slightly frazzled empath pushed the changeling back down into the bed, rolled over him, and stepped onto the plush carpeted floor. Looking back at the changeling, she saw him give her a small wink and a smile before shutting his eyes and relaxing into the bed. The empath disappeared into the bathroom, hoping that a relaxing hot shower would soothe her troubled mind.

The moment the bathroom door closed, the changeling reached for his communicator on the nightstand. Pressing a few buttons, the screen popped to life with Robin appearing on the other end.

"Morning dude, I need a favor."

Robin smiled and tapped his forehead with his index finger. "Way ahead of you."

"Ah, right. That link thing. Thanks Dick."

"Don't worry about it. See you two in a bit. Robin out."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes lightly at the businesslike farewell and settled into the bed for a 30 minute power nap.

Exactly 30 minutes later the green hero was abruptly woken by having his outfit thrown on his face.

"I'm up! I'm up!" the changeling grumbled.

"Hurry up, or we'll miss breakfast." The empath replied as she stood in front of the mirror, combing her shoulder length hair. Moments later Beast Boy approached, fully clothed, and hugged Raven from behind.

He stared at her through the mirror and asked, "Are you ok?"

She replied a bit faster than usual. "I'm fine, Gar. Let's go." The changeling conceded for now.

The Chromatically Challenged Couple walked side by side in silence towards the Ops Room. Beast Boy could sense the remnants of unease the clung to the empath as they approached the sliding doors in the way that she carried herself. Reaching for her hand, he squeezed it and gave her a large toothy grin.

As they locked eyes, he spoke. "I love you, Rae."

The ever so slight change in her posture was immediately noticeable. "I love you too, Gar." The couple leaned in for a short yet heartfelt kiss, and then proceeded through the door. The three other titans were already in the room.

The sensations that bombarded Raven almost made her stagger. The morning sunlight beamed through the tower windows and gave the room a warm, inviting glow. Raven heard her kettle whistling, and saw Robin proceeding to make a cup of tea. The scent of Raven's favorite waffles permeated through every inch of the room as Cyborg happily prepared breakfast. And then there was Starfire.

Starfire hurdled through the air and immediately wrapped Raven into a large hug, lifting the sorceress into the air with her. Starfire made a supreme effort not to squeeze the life out of her closest friend, but continued to consciously invoke the emotion of pure joy and happiness as much as she possibly could. Raven reflexively licked at her lips. The positive emotions that radiated off the princess were so powerful that the empath swore she could taste it. Positivity invaded every inch of Raven's empathic senses, leaving no room for anything but.

Starfire gently set Raven down next to the table, but was unable to land herself as she refused to suppress her emotions. Starfire knew exactly how she was affecting Raven's empathic abilities.

"A morning of goodness to you, Raven!" The cheerful alien gushed.

"Good morning, Kory." The empath replied, albeit a bit slowly.

Robin approached Raven with a steaming mug of tea in hand. Handing it to her carefully, he smiled. "Morning Raven. I thought I'd get your tea ready for you today. Hope I didn't mess it up."

Raven breathed in deeply, absorbing the scent of the tea. It was her favorite, and it smelled heavenly. Taking a small sip after blowing on it, Raven confirmed it was made perfectly as well. Letting loose a very contented sigh, she finally replied. "It's absolutely perfect. Thank you." Raven took a seat at the table and continued to blow gently on her tea.

From behind, Cyborg's voice boomed. "I hope my baby sis is hungry, 'cause I got waffles!"

Cyborg set down a plate of Belgian Waffles stacked three high in front of the empath, along with a small platter of cut up fruits and an assortment of syrups for toppings. The aroma coming off the meal before her made Raven's mouth water, so it took her a moment before she could reply. "Thank you Victor. It smells amazing."

The cybernetic hero beamed. "And it tastes even better! Only the best for y'all. We're family, so there's no way I'm letting you eat sub par food! Well, except for the grass stain and that garbage he cooks up."

"Hey!" Beast Boy shouted.

Robin could be seen face palming off to the side and muttering, "Here we go…"

"Please friends, do not argue!" Starfire said as she attempted to intervene.

Raven sat back in her chair with her tea held under her nose as she watched the scene unfold, a small smile once again forcing its way onto her face. She wasn't dense. She knew exactly why they were doing all of this. But the reality of it all was she couldn't possibly be more grateful for the people in her life. With her family by her side, she knew what took place in her sleep would only ever just be a figment of her subconscious mind. That nightmare was no longer her destiny.

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**A/N: **What was meant to be a drabble ended up becoming a huge oneshot, haha. Oh well, I had fun writing it. Hope you all liked it.

For those of you asking me to add on to my drabble Infatuation, I'm letting you know I will, but not until I finish up the last few Emotion Drabble Prompts sitting in my Tumblr inbox. But it will be coming, don't worry. ^-^


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